Sandy Sadness...

The second biggy that was going on in our lives and hearts over the last week or so...Hurricane Sandy. I am a Jersey girl...well, actually a NYC girl and Jersey girl all wrapped up into one. I spent the first half of my childhood growing up in NYC and the second half living in the suburbs of the city in Northern NJ.

My summers as a child were spent on Long Island, NY and then later, once we moved to NJ, on the Jersey Shore. Since our oldest was about 3, we have been spending a week each summer at the Shore on Long Beach Island. Beach Haven, our town, is my happy place. Our week there each year is our Christmas gift from my mom to my sisters and our families. All of our children (and us) live for this week. We are all relaxed and my mom is in her element. Others, might be confused - it isn't the most beautiful or glamorous place - but it is our happy place and nothing is like our time there or all the memories we share from our weeks together there.

I have spent so much time over the last two weeks watching youtube videos, googling photos of the hurricane and the damage at the shore. My heart breaks and the tears fall. Long Beach Island, like so many other places along the NJ (and NY) coast was completely underwater. To see the photos of all that has been lost and the damage and destruction - well, it has rocked me. Not sure we will even be able to go back next year. The photo at the top of our blog (at the time of this writing) is taken on the front porch of our rental home. Even that porch is our happy place.

My heart breaks for the families who have lost lives, homes, belongings, security in NJ and NY. My prayers are for their safety, restoration, and strength as they face the cleanup, the rebuilding, and the changes. Lord, please bless the people of the shore.

As we arrive to the island every summer, we all wait to be greeted by the LBI shack. It is a little shack 

(was originally a duck hunting club or something from way back in the 1920's). Over the years it has been many things and has been deserted for quite some time. When we started going to the beach there, it had a roof. Every year it gets more and more run down. Each year, John jokes that it's our beach house...and each year we all cheer when we see it.

The shack is the subject of many photographs and paintings found on the island. It is sort of a symbol. A symbol that you have arrived...that you can let out a long relaxing breath - that the long drive to the beach is over (it's quite a trip from Virginia with 6 noisy kids, just sayin'). It symbolizes vacation and family time and all the hopes the start of vacation holds. This summer as we passed it I took the picture above. I think it's the first time I ever took a picture of it. It is along the highway road that takes you onto the island. It sits in a field by the bay - alone, next to a billboard (which sits to the right, but not in the photo).

When the news starting coming out about the flooding, of course we worried for the wonderful beach houses, the amusement park that we visit each year on the island, our beach house and all our regular haunts. But my thoughts turned to the shack as well. Would it make it. There were actually people tweeting about the chances of the shack's ability to survive. There were reports throughout the weeks that it was still standing, that it was battered but still there.

By the end of last week, the final word on the shack's condition surfaced. It broke my heart.

It is gone.

 Rest in peace little shack. I'm gonna miss you...

I am grateful that my parents are doing well after the storm. Tho' they don't live at the Jersey shore, they still live in Northern NJ - they have only just today (nearly 2 weeks later) gotten their power back. They describe my hometown as a disaster zone - trees and power lines down everywhere. Streets undriveable, no heat, no power, no phone, no internet.  They stuck it out - they are very strong, independent, spunky 80 year olds (sorry mom, just trying to make a point here). They slept by their gas fireplace, wore gloves and sweaters, and got by for the first week. By the second week, they relented to staying in a hotel. They are glad to be back in their home, with power and heat. But their town will be cleaning up for a long time to come (and they live about an hour inland from the shore). Lord, please bless the people of New Jersey.

How to help :   Donate to the Red Cross   http://www.redcross.org/hurricane-sandy

Website about the LBI Shack including a short documentary link  http://www.savetheshack.com/

Can it really be true?

Three other big events have happened in the last couple of weeks, amid the happy pumpkin patching and trick or treating (each deserves a blog post on its own - and will).  The first - and happy occasions -  (tinged with a sweet melancholy for this mama) - my oldest babies turned 16 and 18. Can it really be true???

I couldn't be more proud of the two of them. They make parenting teens look easy. (Truthfully, it has not been easy - parenting just isn't -  a lot of time, love, nurturing, holding on and letting go, and prayer, and God's grace, have made them the wonderful teenagers that they are). Thank you Lord for entrusting these two precious people to John and I. They make me smile and teary...if you know me, I get teary a lot...it's what I do...

Drew's b'day was first and we had all his favorite foods, John made him a really cool guitar speaker, and he got lots of money from family that went toward an amazing vintage guitar. We took the whole family out to an old favorite (a place that, since our family has grown, we don't get to go to these days). Sakura is a "fancy cooking" place (that was what Drew called it way back when he was a toddler - the name has kinda stuck with our family). We took along his girl-friend and our family took up a whole table. It was so fun. It's been years since we have been (the little girls had never been) and the cool thing is that everyone likes the food now! There were years before when the kids only ate the chicken, or one kid only ate white rice. Luckily for us, the little girls split a dish, so did Kate and Zoe. It was totally fun - and no one but John and Kate caught the tossed shrimps!

 Both Drew and Kate decided on a shared party. So cool. Many years ago they shared a few b'day parties. So sweet that they are such good friends that they want to share again at this age. Truthfully, they have many of the same friends. So we picked a night between their birthdays and went for it. They decorated the back yard (you can see the lights on the back porch through the window) with little lights and chairs all around our NEW FIRE PIT!! (more about that later). Here's the set up before everyone got here. There is a large cake on the table (hard to see). The kids (about 25-30) hung out around the food, out at the fire pit, down in our basement with the music, and surprisingly, in our family room playing Just Dance on the x-box. Hilarious game...Have I mentioned that I just love their friends? They all had a great time and we were all partied out and cleaned up by midnight. Good times...Happy Birthday guys!

The invisible man??

Singing "Happy Birthday" outside

I realized as I wrote this post that I never got a clear birthday photo of Kate. We had the cake outside and all my pictures from the cake and firepit s'mores-making didn't come out so well - too dark. Her birthday gifts were the freedom and supplies to redecorate her entire room - I think I will need to do a post to show her amazing decorating skills.  She got a pilates class (which started earlier this semester), some other fun things too, and money :) We also shared a yummy Chinese meal with her - a buffet that we all love! Here is a photo from this past summer that shows Kate's beauty and funny spirit. Love this girl...

Boo...

The end of October every year is a favorite time for our family. We have a birthday on either side of Halloween and the most fun Halloween neighborhood ever (seriously, it's a large circle, people drive here from all over to do their trick or treating, and it is truly festive). 

For a family that almost wanted to opt out of the holiday that celebrates darkness and death, we have learned that it is the one time a year that neighbors and many others come to our door. It's an opportunity to welcome them, make over them and show as much love as we can to each of them as they stop by for candy.

Over the years, we have opened our home to our church lifegroup families and other friends on Halloween night (it becomes sortof a party/home-base for these families - a place to eat, pee, and come back to to sort out the candy and dig in). We have pizza, take pictures, and all the dads take the younger ones around the neighborhood. Many years the dads are even dressed up. Our costumes are made up of mostly things we have or make - occasionally we will purchase a wig or mask. The teens even get into it and some years we have had a large group of them. This year they all met here then walked over to a party of youth group friends in a nearby neighborhood.

I prefer to be the candy distributor and usually have some other moms with me. We sit out on the front step with our pumpkin and greet all who walk by and come up for treats. It is truly one of my favorite nights.

Mulan and Dorothy (they were rockin' the long hair!)

Finn from Adventure Time (she made her costume)

In case you're wondering, Ben is "Jim" from The Office (yes, my 11 year old watches The Office - it's hard with teens around, please don't judge...).  Jack is Slender Man - he is a current popular video game. His costume was actually so awesome and his 6'3" height carried it off well - he was scary. Have I mentioned he's only 13??

Part of the gang of kids - oh and my husband...yes, that's him on the end. He wore a recycled costume from last year's EnderMan costume (from Mind Craft). A close up is below - it was incredibly creepy. My pick for the greatest costume was Mary Poppins. She had all the details down and looked fantastic!

Drew and his girlfriend Zoe playing "Cowboys and Indians."  They make a pretty good looking couple don't they?  Drew turned 18 a couple of days before...more on that later...

Sorry for the blurry closeup. John used two itouches to sit behind the eye openings. Each itouch had an app of crazy eyeballs that moved all around. There were lots of choices of eyeballs (real and drawn and cartoon) but these were by far the creepiest. They were extreme closeups of real eyes and veiny and moving around in all directions. Think Marty Feldman...Kids loved it or were afraid. Several tripped just trying to see him and figure it out. By the end of the night one of the other dads just sat on the front porch with this mask on. The expressions on the little kids' faces as they approached our porch was hilarious! 

This picture (or one just like it) caused an Facebook sensation. Ben had all the details and body moves and expressions of Jim from The Office. He even let his hair grow out to look like Jim. Aside from being a bit embarrassed that my young son would be able to so have a character down from a show we didn't let my oldest son see til he was 16 is a bit "awky" (as my daughter says). Cudos to you Ben tho' for looking the part and cracking us all up.

This picture was actually taken the day after Halloween. I realized that we didn't get enough pictures that showed how creepy Jack looked in this costume. We did an afternoon photo session the day after Halloween out in the woods behind our house. I wouldn't want to run into him in the woods...

We were nervous this year that Halloween wouldn't happen. Hurricane Sandy had just slammed into my beloved NJ shore and we had expected to have bad weather as well. In the end it was fine for us here (not so much in NJ - I plan to write about my feelings on that soon) - just a bit chilly.

Fun was had by all as usual. By 9pm it was all over and all had gone home. Only my little pumpkin (I only make happy ones) was still out and glowing. Boo...

Pumpkin patchin'...

Somehow, the Fall, and Halloween, and pumpkins, just don't feel right without a visit with the cousins. My sister Jill and I have lived within 3 hours of each other since I started having babies (wait, actually even before babies). She has always lived in Maryland, I in Virginia. Because we both have children with Fall birthdays, we have often had a visit with one another sometime in October - either for birthday partying, trick or treating, or pumpkin patching.

This year, we made the trip to them with my four younger - who, conveniently, are nearly the exact ages of her four kids (yes, I know I have probably mentioned that fact once or ten times before on this blog) - and the best of buds. Anyway, it was a wonderful long weekend. Just us moms, as John was home with my teens, and Marc was at a dental convention. We went to a fabulous pumpkin patch just over the border in West Virginia - and it was sooooo fun! Animals, hayrides, trampolines, huge playground, campfire, corn maze and a sky that looked like something from a movie...yep...we had some fun...

**rare appearance of yours truly...

The girls went one way through the maze and the boys another - we ended up running into them midway through the huge maze.

At the lookout point (aka the place to go when you don't know where the heck you are in the maze).

The sun shone right over the farm but beyond was an ominous sky.

When I was a little girl growing up in NYC, my favorite animal was a goat. Why, you ask? Well, I have no earthly idea except that I once visited a farm and got to play with the baby goats. I was such a city kid and that was such an amazing experience for me. I have always had a soft spot for them ever since...even tho' they are sorta dirty things...This guy was so funny sleeping up on the feeding tray.

Another rare appearance of the camera lady...

My beautiful baby sister Jill...she'll probably kill me for putting this on here...with her adorable little  "D"

Back at Jill's the kids played a wonderful game of soccer (all 8 of them), in Jill's front yard. This photo was taken just seconds before the game came to an abrupt halt when Jemila allowed several goals to go in. Everyone sorta turned on her...poor thing. Found out later that she had spent the game whining about not being able to be goalie and telling all of them that she is the best goalie for the job...this kinda thing always happens when I finally find my camera...

Of course, no visit to Jill's is ever complete without a visit or two to Rita's Italian Ice...thinking about it makes me want to drive there right now....hold me back....

All in all it was a wonderful weekend with more memories made and cousin bonding. Always great to hang out with my little sister and all her fun kids.  Thanks guys for having us!